Cleansing pad holder



Oct. 31, 1961 H. c. A. O'RORKE 3,006,010

CLEANSING PAD HOLDER Filed Oct. 5, 1959 United dtates 3,006,010 CLEANSENG PAD HOLDER Henry Clare Ashley ORorke, 27 St. Leonards Terrace, London SW. 3, England Filed (let. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 844,357 Claims priority, application Great Britain Set. 16, 1958 2 Claims. (Ci. 15--119) The present invention relates to hand-grips for cleansing pads, such for example as natural or synthetic sponges and to cleaning devices embodying such hand-grips.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a hand-grip which is inexpensive to manufacture and which enables squeezing pressure developed by the user to be exerted upon a cleansing pad with a convenient mechanical advantage.

According to the present invention there is provided a cleaning device including a hand-grip comprising two relatively movable actuating members, one of the said members having two compressor members, between. which a cleansing pad is to be supported, hingedly mounted at one end, the other actuating member having fixed to one end a stirrup whose ends lie upon opposite sides of the compressor members at least when the compressor members are close together, and a hinged link coupling each end of the stirrup to one of the compressor members the arrangement being such that as the two actuating members are moved relatively to one another in a direction to cause the compressor members to approach one another, the angle between the links increases. The links may, for example, move from positions of approximate parallelism to positions in which they approach alignment with one another.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the actuating members are two arms hinged together at the end opposite to the said one end.

Spring means may be provided to urge the two actuating members into a position in which the compressor members are at t-he maximum desired spacing but when the pad is resilient, as in the case of a sponge, the pad itself serves to urge the compressor members apart and no separate spring is needed.

The compressor members may be in the form of flat plates to which the pad is fixed by suitable adhesive. ll he links may be hinged to these plates near their outer edges.

The invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a View in front elevation of the embodiment of PEG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, two arms 19 and 11 are hinged together at one end 12. To the other end of the arm lil is fixed a stirrup 13 the plane of which is inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the arm 19, the ends of the stirrup extending on opposite sides of the other arm 11. Two compressor plates 14, 15 are hinged to the arm 11, the hinge axis being approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of this other arm. In this example the hinge is formed by a strip 16 of fabric. Two links 17, 18 are provided each pivoted at one end to a compressor plate 14 or 15 and at the other end to one end of the stirrup 13. These links are so arranged that when the arms 19 and 11 are furthest apart so that the compressor plates 14 and 15 are in the positions shown in full lines in FIG. 2, [the links are nearly parallel to one another and when the arms are closest together and therefore when the compression plates are in the positions shown in broken lines in FIG. 2, the angle between the links is increased.

Since the angle between the two arms changes as they are moved relatively to one another, the axes of the pivot 3,0%,l0 Patented Get. 31, 1961 between the two links and the stirrup, on the one hand, and the compressor members, on the other hand, do not remain fixed in relation to the stirrup. \Provision for the necessary changes in inclination of these axes may be made by allowing sufiicient play in the bearings forming the pivots.

The stirrup may be of any shape but a semi-circular shape is often convenient.

The hand-grip constituted by the arms lll and 11 may be of metal, plastic or wood or of a combination of these materials. The arms and/ or the stirrup may be tubular or of channel or like section giving a high stillness for a given weight.

In use, a pad 19 such as a sponge is fixed between the compressor members 14, 15 and may then be charged with water or other cleansing liquid. By increasing the grip upon the two arms 10, ll, pressure is exerted between the compressor members upon the pad and liquid is expelled from the pad in a readily controllable amount.

The compressor plates i4, 15 may be cut away in a taper as shown at 2% in order to facilitate the cleaning of recessed objects. The pad 19 is preferably provided, as shown, with a V-shaped recess 21. The effect of this recess is that when the compressor plates Li and 1 5 are brought together in order to expel liquid from the pad, the pad lies wholly between the tapered compressor plates. If the V-s'naped recess were not provided, the part of the pad 19 between the tapered ends of the compressor plates would bulge outward and it would not be possible to expel liquid effectively from this part of the pad.

I claim:

1. A cleansing pad holder comprising a hand-grip including two relatively movable actuating members comprising two arms, hinge means connecting said two arms together at one end of the arms, two opposed compressor members between which a cleansing pad is to be supported, means hingedly mounting said compressor me. bers at the free end of one of said actuating arms for movement towards and away from each other, stirrup means supported at its mid portion upon the free end of the other of said actuating arms, the ends of said stirrup means being disposed upon opposite sides of said compressor members at least in certain positions of said compressor members, and a hinged link coupling each end of said stirrup means to the compressor member nearer thereto.

2. A cleansing pad holder comprising a hand-grip including two relatively movable actuating members comprising two arms, hinge means connecting said two arms together at one end of the arms, two opposed compressor members having inner surfaces, means hingedly mounting said compressor members at the free end of one of said actuating arms for movement towards and away from each other, a cleansing pad secured by adhesive to the inner surfaces of said compressor members, stirrup means supported at its mid portion upon the free end of the other of said actuating arms, the ends of said stirrup means being disposed upon opposite sides of said compressor members at least in certain positions of said compressor members, and a hinged link coupling each end of said stirrup means to the compressor member nearer thereto.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,768,398 Karlistsky Oct. 30, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 617,197 Germany Aug. 14, 1935 1,155,042 France Nov. 18, 1957 

